Pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) substances can be used to adhere materials to other materials, articles or surfaces, which may include other substrates. Tapes that use PSA substances can be produced in a wide range of forms, such as unsupported adhesive films known as transfer tapes, double sided tapes with a carrier film, tissue, or nonwoven material coated on one or both sides with pressure sensitive adhesives. The adhesive coating is applied to a first substrate, and this adhesive coated substrate can then be applied to a second substrate, so that the second substrate becomes adhesively coated. For example, a PSA resin can be coated onto a release liner and supplied as a roll of PSA tape.
With most PSA tapes, the resin coating covers all or almost all of the release liner. The coating may vary in thickness. Thick coatings can result in the use of a large amount of PSA resin. This amount may be well in-excess of that required to actually hold the substrate in place, resulting in unnecessary wastage and cost.
It is desired to address or ameliorate one or more shortcomings or disadvantages associated with existing PSA-carrying substrates, or to at least provide a useful alternative thereto.